Now that spring has finally arrived, there are lots of spring flowers in the woods, including celandines, bluebells and wood anemones. Wood anemones area among the first and form a beautiful carpet of white wherever they establish themselves. They are native plants, whose Latin name is anemone nemerosa and they are also known as windflowers, thimbleweed, smell fox and helmet flower. There are also a number of cultivated varieties for the garden, some of which have blue flowers, but it has to be remembered that the plant is poisonous and can cause sickness and skin irritation. The Ancient Greeks believed the wood anemone was a gift from the wind god Anemos (or Eurus), sent to herald his coming in spring.
Photos of wood anemones in Church Wood:
Below are two recent photos taken by the Warden. The first one shows wood anemones again and the second a view of the treetops taken during tree surgery. Both show how bare the trees still were only a short time ago at the end of April.